Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #20 of Revelation, chapter 16, and we are going to be reading Revelation 16:17:

And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.

I will stop reading there. This is the pouring out of the seventh and last vial full of the wrath of God. It is occurring in the Day of Judgment, which is our present day. All seven vials picture God’s judgment on the unsaved people of the world, plus Satan and all the fallen angels. In the time of the wrath of God, it is the final judgment of mankind.

We see in the opening statement of Revelation 16:17:

And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air…

The “air” is the object of God’s wrath here. If we look at the vials that were poured out, we see the first vial was poured on the earth; the second vial was poured upon the sea; the third vial was poured upon the rivers and fountains of waters; the fourth vial was poured upon the sun; the fifth vial was poured upon the seat of the beast; and the sixth vial was poured upon the great river Euphrates. So we see that the earth, the kingdom of Satan and the Euphrates (Babylon) also represent the kingdoms of this world. Again, and again, the object of the wrath of God is the entire kingdom of Satan, all who are in darkness and enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ and enemies of the kingdom of God.

In verse 17 God is pouring out the vial through the seven messengers, which represent Christ and His people who carry forth the message of the Word of God. But this vial is poured out “into the air.” What does that signify? Why did God command the seventh and last vial full of the wrath of God be poured out into the air?

When we look up the word “air” in Strong’s Concordance, we find two words that are commonly translated as “air.” The first word is the Greek word “ouranos,” Strong’s #3772, and it is also translated as “heaven” or “sky.” When it is translated as “air,” it is normally in the context of the fowls of the air – in every case it has to do with birds flying in the sky above us.

The second Greek word, which is the word found in our verse, is the Greek word “aer,” and it is where our English word “air” comes from. It is Strong’s #109 and this word is found eight or nine times in the New Testament and it is used in various ways. For instance, it says in 1Corinthians 14:9:

Likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air.

If you speak in a way that is not understood, you are said to be speaking “into the air.” It is an expression that we still have today, to some degree. This Greek word “aer” was one we came across in our study of Revelation, chapter 9. Let us go back there and look at Revelation 9:2:

And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.

Again, Revelation, chapter 9 describes the Day of Judgment, the judgment which began on the world on May 21, 2011. Of course, we are familiar with the darkened “sun,” as there are so many verses in the Bible that speak of the sun being darkened immediately after the Tribulation. Revelation, chapter 8 was describing the judgment on the churches during the Great Tribulation and then Revelation, chapter 9 describes the transition of the judgment to the entire world, with its “three woes” of the final three trumpets. So the smoke arose out of the pit as a great furnace and darkened the sun and the air. Why the air? We looked at this when we studied Revelation 9 and we found a very helpful verse in regard to the word “air” in Ephesians 2:1-2:

And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

Here, God makes reference to people He had saved; He had “quickened” them. They had been dead in trespasses and sins, but now they are no longer dead, spiritually. God has given them a new heart and a new spirit. So He says in times past in their lives they had “walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,” and that prince would be Satan. The word “prince” means to be a ruler or chief; he is the “prince of the power of the air.” The word “power” is Strong’s #1849 and it is also translated as “authority,” so Satan is the “authority of the air.” That is interesting, but does it help us? Can we understand what that means? We know that the Book of Colossians also tells us some things concerning Satan. It says in Colossians 1:12-13:

Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

Here, we have a similar idea. Those that had been in darkness are translated, or taken, out of the darkness and now they are “saints in light,” and part of the kingdom of God. But notice that we were delivered from the “power” or authority of darkness. Satan is the “prince of the power of the air.” So we can see there is some relationship between the word “air” and the idea of “darkness,” but let us go back and read, again, Ephesians 2:2:

Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air…

The Bible does this often, especially in the Old Testament, and some theologians call this “Hebrew parallelism,” but it is when God makes a statement in the first part of a verse and then He rewords it and restates it in a different way in the second part of the verse. It is sort of a reinforcement of the truth of what He had been declaring and we see this in this verse where it says, “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air.” The “world” would be synonymous with the power of the “air.” You might think that is a bit of a stretch and maybe the proof is not that solid here. I would agree with you if that were the only evidence we had, but we have more evidence when we look at this word “prince.”

I would encourage you to look up the word “prince” and check it out.” The word is often translated as “ruler” or “chief.” It is sometimes used of the Jews, for instance, in the case of Nicodemus, who was a ruler of the people. It is the same word “prince.” It also applied to the scribes or Pharisees, as the spiritual leaders of Israel. It was also used in speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ in Revelation 1:5:

And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth…

This is the same word “prince.” Christ is the “ruler” over His people and in this verse His elect are called “the kings of the earth.”

This word is also used in reference to Satan. As far as I could see, it was used four times in reference to Satan. (I am just looking at the New Testament usage of this word translated as “prince.”) We find in the Gospel of John that Satan is called a “prince” three more times. I am going to read each one of those verses, starting with John 12:31:

Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.

Satan is in view and he is called “the prince of this world.”

Let us also look at John 14:30:

Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.

This is the second time in the Book of John when Satan is called “the prince of this world.”

Finally, let us look at the last place it is used in John 16:11:

Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.

Of the four times that Satan is said to be a “prince,” three out of the four times he is “the prince of this world.” In the fourth instance, in Ephesians 2:2, He is called “the prince of the power of the air,” but, again, when we look more closely at the verse, it said, “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world,” we see that the word “world” is “cosmos” and it is the same word that is used in the other verses in the Book of John. So we can see that these Scriptures are synonymous and we can see that God is using “parallelism” and He is using the word “air” as a figure or representation of the world. Then when we see that Satan is called “the prince of this world” three times, we know this is exactly what God is saying. When it says “the prince of the power of the air,” it really is saying that Satan is the “the prince of this world.”

Satan was given authority to rule over the kingdoms of this earth dating back to the fall of man in the Garden of Eden when man fell before Satan, the deceiver and the liar. He was the original liar that deceived Eve and Adam into eating the forbidden fruit and through his right of conquest when they obeyed his lie rather than the truth, mankind became servant to sin and to Satan. He became the prince of this world and the prince of the power of the air, so the “air” can be a figure of this world that lay in darkness, controlled by Satan. Therefore, when God says the seventh angel poured out his vial “into the air,” it is telling us that God’s judgment is upon this world; God’s judgment is upon that which Satan ruled over.

God has already described in Revelation 16:10 that the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast and his kingdom was full of darkness. The “seat of the beast” was the throne from which Satan had been exercising his dominion, but Satan was put down and deposed. When Judgment Day began, Satan was put down from all rule and authority, but now God is saying that not only is “the prince of the power of the air” judged, but the “air” that he had ruled over (this world) is also the object of the furious wrath of God as He punishes the unsaved for their sins. God is bringing His complete judgment upon all that are in rebellion against Him. It applies to the entire kingdom; there is not one part of the enemy kingdom that can escape the judgment of God. The judgment is upon all that Satan had ruled over and it will be a complete judgment.